Sports Talk. COMMENTARY.

Nu Runs Out Of Luck

But Barnett Solid As Ever

October 18, 1998|By Rick Morrissey. Rick Morrissey covers Northwestern football for the Tribune.

Sometimes when Gary Barnett is by himself these days, alone in the darkness of a difficult season, an unwelcome visitor stops by for a chat. And the self-doubt, settled in and comfortable, tries to monopolize the conversation.

Is he a good coach? Barnett wonders. Is he the same coach he was in 1995 and 1996? Or was he simply along for a joyous ride, a passenger on a short space shuttle trip?

Everything about Northwestern's football program is discussed in the context of two magical seasons that seemed to come out of nowhere. Now, with NU starting out poorly this year after going 5-7 last season, there is the distinct possibility that the program is back to going nowhere fast. From ashes to ashes.

Barnett is not immune to wondering himself whether the 1995 Rose Bowl team and its first cousin, the 1996 Citrus Bowl team, were simply the result of a confluence of wondrous factors beyond his control.

"When we lose two or three games in a row, I start to question myself, not anybody else," he said. "I question whether I can do it, whether I had anything to do with that in 1995 or 1996. Maybe I didn't have anything to do with it at all . . . I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

"That's what you start questioning. You wonder whether Joe Blow could have been here and done it."

If anything, however, what has happened since those two seasons paints Barnett as, at least, a very good coach and a smooth motivator.

When running back Darnell Autry recently announced his retirement from pro football at the tender age of 22, it meant that Northwestern's Rose Bowl team had one fewer representative in the NFL.

And then there were three. Wide receiver Brian Musso is on the New York Jets' practice squad. Defensive end Casey Dailey is on the Jets' injured-reserve list. Offensive lineman Paul Janus is with the Carolina Panthers.

Think about that for a second. The Wildcats were ranked as high as third in the country in 1995, and all they have to show for it are three players in the pros. That indicates that NU wasn't the most talented group in the world, or at least not blessed with the type of talent necessary to attract the NFL's attention. Has there ever been a college team ranked so highly with so few future pros on its roster? Doubtful. Ohio State, the team NU beat out to go to the Rose Bowl three years ago, had enough talent to crush the Bears.

Somehow, Barnett made his players believe in themselves, made them take on the Notre Dames and the Michigans and believe they could win. It was almost ludicrous in its brashness, especially coming from one of the sorriest programs in college football history. But there the Wildcats went, knocking the legs out from under bigger programs.

What happened then and what is happening now raises the question of how big a role luck and simple good fortune played at NU. It is not something anyone involved with the program cares to dwell on, but it is there nonetheless. The three best players on the 1995 and 1996 teams are now household names in any household that prefers purple color schemes. But Autry, quarterback Steve Schnur and linebacker Pat Fitzgerald, the two-time national defensive player of the year, were very lightly recruited coming out of high school, and that's being kind.

Autry had the most offers, but only Northwestern gave him the chance to be a running back. Other schools wanted him to play defensive back. Fitzgerald's only other offer came from Georgia Tech. NU was the lone school seriously interested in Schnur, who at 6 feet was smallish for a quarterback.

Now the case could be made that Barnett and his coaching staff were such incredible recruiters that they saw what nobody else in the country saw. That's possible, but unlikely. More plausible is that, again out of nowhere, the three players blossomed and benefited from lots of playing time early in their careers.

Did they blossom because of Barnett and his staff or because the blossoming was inevitable? Probably a combination of both.

"Most of it, I think, was what they decided to do," Barnett said. "I think they let us help them through the whole five years they were there. They let us take them where they couldn't take themselves. But they made the decision where they wanted to go. It all worked."

What does that have to do with now and where Barnett finds himself? A lot, because unlike the Michigans and the Ohio States, NU isn't guaranteed top recruits year in and year out. There is no cruise control in Evanston. The Wildcats are still in a race to take full advantage of the two bowl seasons.

In Barnett's mind, this season looks eerily like the 1993 season, which isn't so bad as long as there is a 1995 on the horizon. The likelihood is that there isn't. The 1993 team went 0-8 in the Big Ten. Barnett is convinced that this year's team has more talent than even the Rose Bowl team.

But that doesn't necessarily translate into victories, and Barnett knows it. He also knows that with a few more poor seasons, whatever bounce the bowl seasons might have provided in recruiting is gone. Then, no matter what happens, he'll be left to hope that a Fitzgerald, a Schnur and an Autry fall into his lap. And that, too, seems unlikely.

"If you have great talent and you have great spirit, then you truly have an exceptional team," Barnett said. "But if you have that spirit and you have a fairly talented team, you can also be a really good team."